You probably know us from other bands we've been in. Some of us used to be with Merri and the 4 Skins. Most of us were in J.T. Black and Merri's Boyz. We were once almost known as Yehuda and the Gefilte Fish. Andy used to play with Strollin' While We Can and until recently played lead guitar in the jazz band Oak City Groove. Merri, like Elvis, Prince, Beyonce and Melonie, is one of the few performers who is immediately recognizable by her first name. In her solo career, playing for the old and young (old age homes and puppet shows) she was known as ... Merri. Now that she's joined TTT, she's known as the artist formerly known as ... Merri. Robert used to have a lead part with Marcia and Friends until Marcia and all her friends bailed out. Glenn and Alan banged keyboards and frets for Rhone and the Poulencs. For a short time, Robert and Andy made up the core of the foursome known as the Jody Page Trio. Don most recently played with Skeeter Hawk in Raleigh NC. Because of our troubled history with bass players, we checked Don out thoroughly. We requested a resume, checked out his personal life, his references, and made him pee in a cup. Check out the results.

2008 was as busy a year gigging as we've ever had. Unfortunately, the one paying gig we had was rained out. No matter. We had a great time playing for various family members weddings and fund raisers.

Our bass player saga may have finally reached a happy conclusion. Don is still with us after a year and he seems to be having a great time. He's been a positive influence musically as well as screwing with the audio gear.

Our lineup includes 3 or 4 lead singers (who all want to sing lead on every song), a keyboard player, a bass player, a drummer, 2 lead guitars, 3 or 4 guitars, 4 back up singers, harmonica, and 2 more guys that sing well enough that we're going to take up a collection and buy them some mics. In addition we've got a cowbell, a guerro, knockers (2 sets), tambourines, an egg and a banana! Between Glenn, Andy, Alan and Don we've got the most amazing collection of electronic equipment you've ever seen in a band that plays as infrequently as we do. In 2008 Alan and Glenn chipped in and bought a smoke machine. It remains to be seen when we'll actually use the it.

Bass Players:
We've been thru so many bass players that they deserve their own section. Here's the lot in historical order

John Wolk, used to play bass with us. Unfortunately he had a lot of trouble remembering to come to practices. In 2001 a tribe of pigs flew over his house and stole all his equipment. So we had to let John go back to selling paint. (The pigs didn't steal the paint... it figures.). Ted Buckner replaced John on Bass. Ted's a real musician who actually had a gig with the now defunct Lula's Birthmark. Unfortunately Ted found he couldn't handle two bands. So he gave up music entirely.
Then Mark Kramer played with us until he got laid off and had to move out of town.
Then Paul Graf did a gig with us. He is currently woodshedding.
We were giving Lang (bless his heart) a chance, but he flew the coop at the first sign of competition.
We played with Bob Blair one time. He sounded pretty good and we had high hopes. As soon as Bob read this website and found out we wanted him because he works for Associated Sound Products and that we wanted to raid his store to create the TTT smoke and light show, he told us to take a hike.
After that we raided the young, multi-talented Daniel Marks from Maje. In 2005 Daniel decided he had enough of us and he hit the road.
For one gig Mike Sullivan joined the band until he decided he couldn't control our practice schedule.
So, we went back to John Wolk because we all decided after 5 years, he had matured enough to be our bassman. It was like having the long lost brother we all were waiting for. For a while we were a happy family again.

But alas, John didn't take to long to get back in to his old habits. His list of excuses for missing practice included: ear problems, back problems, kidney problems, car problems and horse priorities. The final straw was when he told us the day before a paying gig that we needed find a sub because he threw his back out. Clearly the guy is too old to rock and roll. Will sat in with us for that gig, on very short notice. He did a credible job too. Will Williams joined us for our next paying gig too. After that... we're back to our normal "looking for a bass player" mode.

In late 2007, we placed an ad in the neighborhood newsletter and found a bass player, Bill Clay, who lives right down the street. Bill picked up the songs up quickly. He also had a great work ethic. The problem was that the guy liked to argue. TTT likes to discuss things in a friendly way. Bill preferred being in our faces with vehement arguments about how to play a bass line, what the set list should look like, and telling us we were very annoying to even suggest that we do a free 1-hour gig during lunch. After all, he had to work for a living, unlike the rest of us. So after about a thousand emails between the band members, we decided that playing without Bill would be much more fun than playing with him. We let him go.

Of course that left us in potentially desparate straits. We have a couple of gigs booked, but no bass player. Luckily, during an instant messaging session with a co-worker, Andy's buddy image led to a music discussion with Don Jones. Andy has worked with Don for a few years in some high stress situations and the guy is dependable and level headed. Plus, it seems he can play bass. He used to play bass and keyboards in a jazz-fusion band. He also plays violin. The thing is, he hadn't played in 20 years. But he talked a good game and told us he was interested in starting to play again. To prove it, he went out and bought a new bass. That, and the fact that he learned the songs in about a second, convinced us to give Don a try. A bit more digging turned up that Don plays keyboards and violin on a regular basis. It was just bass that he hadn't played in 20 years. A year later Don is still working out. We're all hoping this is the final journal entry in the bass player saga.